A ROCK STAR IS ARISING IN THE MIDDLE EAST “ARAB SPRING”
WHO I CONSIDER TO BE A PROPHETIC ‘PERSON OF INTEREST’
WHOSE ACTIONS ARE FOLLOWING AN INTERESTING COURSE
WHICH I COVERED IN MY TWO PREVIOUS PROPHETIC BLOGS
SHOWN FOLLOWING CURRENT EXCERPT FROM “TIME WORLD”
September 19, 2011
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Begin Excerpt from TIME WORLD
Why Turkey’s Erdogan Is Greeted like a Rock Star in Egypt
By Rania Abouzeid / Cairo Tuesday, Sept. 13,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, flanked by Egyptian military men, visits the tomb of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Cairo on Sept. 13, 2011
Amr Nabil / AP
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — a hero on the Arab streets — has a habit of irritat ing
generals, even when he doesn’t mean to. This week, though, the men in uniform whose moustaches he is tweaking are not the military guardians of Turkish secularism but Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
Erdogan, in Egypt on the first leg of his Arab Spring tour that includes visits in Tunisia and Libya, was received like a rock star by thousands of adoring supporters at Cairo’s airport when he flew in late on Monday. His three-day trip comes at a particularly inopportune time for Cairo’s new bosses, who are increasingly seen — by tens of thousands of young revolutionaries who led February’s revolution — as a throwback to their old boss.
The SCAF’s iron fist following Friday’s ransacking of the Israeli embassy and riot in Cairo, which left three people dead and more than 1,000 injured in clashes with security forces, has amplified anger at the generals. The council swiftly reinstated the authoritarian emergency law, a despised hallmark of Mubarak’s decades-long rule, and broadened it to cover activities such as blocking roads, publishing false information and weapons possession. (See “Prime Minister Erdogan: Turkey’s Man of the People.”)
Questions still swirl about the embassy incident, with some commentators in the local media speculating that the protesters had been set up by the SCAF, given that the diplomatic mission was lightly guarded by men who just stood by, watching protesters tear down a wall around the structure, and only intervened hours later. The demonstrators had been protesting Israel’s killing of six Egyptian border guards last month in a cross-border incursion following an attack in Israeli territory by militants believed to have crossed from the Egyptian side. The violation of Egyptian sovereignty had infuriated many but elicited a tepid response from the SCAF. Cairo had reportedly said it would expel Israel’s ambassador but had failed to do so.
Enter the tough-talking Erdogan, who recently tossed out Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, suspended bilateral military ties and promised a Turkish military escort for vessels defying Israel’ s Gaza blockade in the future.
As far as Egypt’s public was concerned, Erdogan had shown the SCAF (and everybody else) how it was done when it came to responding to Israeli actions, cementing his stature as the Arab world’s new pasha.
Although the Arab Spring is not directly about Israel, those who have risen to claim their dignity in the face of tyrannical regimes are not prepared to passively accept Israel’s actions against the Palestinians in the way that Mubarak and other Arab autocrats had done. That leaves Egypt’s generals wobbling on a tightrope: on one hand, they must appease public anger at their perceived weak response to Israel and their people’s pro-Palestinian views; on the other hand, they must maintain Egypt’s international-treaty obligations, first and foremost the 1979 Camp David agreement with Israel, and keep the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars that the U.S. sends in direct aid to the Egyptian military every year. (See photos of Egyptians tearing down the Israeli embassy wall.)
Erdogan’s visit has highlighted the vast schism between popular pro-Palestinian public opinion in Egypt and the inclinations of the country’ s military leader
s. The Turkish Prime Minister’s thunderous speech to the stale Arab League in Cairo on Tuesday certainly wouldn’t help. In a 30-minute address, Erdogan positioned himself as the unrivaled champion of Palestine, telling the region’s 21 Foreign Ministers (Syria sent a lower-ranking representative) that a Palestinian state was “not an option but an obligation,” urging them to support Palestinians’ efforts to seek U.N. recognition of statehood later this month.
“The Palestinian issue is about the dignity of the people,” said Erdogan, dressed in a sharp dark suit, a white shirt and a ruby red tie with white spots. He highlighted Turkey’s closeness to the Palestinian issue and the Arab people in general. “The cries of a Palestinian child in Gaza hurt the heart of a mother in Ankara,” he said. “It’s time to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations. Let’s raise the Palestinian flag and let that flag be the symbol of peace and justice in the Middle East. Let’s contribute to securing well-deserved peace and stability in the Middle East,” Erdogan said. Israel had isolated itself, he added, by acting “irresponsibly” and “must pay the price” after refusing to apologize for the raid on the Turkish flotilla.
In a further provocation to Israel and perhaps also to Egypt’s generals, Erdogan reportedly wants to cross into the besieged Hamas-ruled territory of Gaza from Egypt, but it’s unclear if he will go ahead. Regardless, the Turkish leader’s message has buttressed his position in the Arab world. However, Erdogan’s star may be dimming in some parts of the region, specifically in Syria.
His speech at the Arab League didn’t address Syria, although leaks in the Turkish media had suggested that he was going to offer “his final words” to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Perhaps that was what came later, in Erdogan’s second address of the day at the Cairo Opera House. This time the speech — which was billed as an address to the Egyptian people — wasn’t televised, for reasons that are unclear.
“Reforms have not materialized,” Erdogan said of Assad’s promises of change. “The Syrian people do not believe in Assad, nor do I. We also do not believe him.” It was quite a statement from a man who once counted Assad as a personal friend.
Although Turkey has taken an increasingly tougher line with Assad, as the Syrian death toll tops 2,600, activists have been looking to Erdogan for more. On Tuesday, he indicated that he is likely to deliver.
FIRST OF TWO PREVIOUS BLOGS
Will the Specter of Suleiman the Magnificent Once Again Walk the Walls He Built Around Jerusalem?
September 18, 2011
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The Turkish economy has become very prosperous under Prime Minister Erdogan, but it has been built on a bubble, and when the bubble pops, the economy will head south. This is one of the reasons he has dreams of creating the revival of Suleiman’s Empire, since it would postpone the pop. The popularity and abilities of Suleiman brought a time of great prosperity to his Islamic State. Erdogan wants to duplicate the success of Suleiman as a popular Sultan.
The “Old Sick Man” of Southeastern Europe, that died as the Ottoman Caliphate, is now about to rise from the dead with Sultan Erdogen at its head.
Begin Excerpt from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Under Süleyman, popularly known as “the Magnificent” or “the Lawmaker,” the Ottoman empire reached the apogee of its military and political power. Süleyman’s armies conquered Hungary, over which the Ottomans maintained control for over 150 years, and they advanced as far west as Vienna, threatening the Habsburgs. To the east, the Ottoman forces wrested control of Iraq from the Safavids of Iran. In the Mediterranean, their navy captured all the principal North African ports, and for a time the Ottoman fleet completely dominated the sea. By the end of Süleyman’s reign, Ottoman hegemony extended over a great portion of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Along with geographic expansion, trade, economic growth, and tremendous cultural and artistic activity helped define the reign of Süleyman as a “Golden Age.” Developments occurred in every field of the arts; however, those in calligraphy, manuscript painting, textiles, and ceramics were particularly significant. Artists renowned by name include calligrapher Ahmad Karahisari as well as painters Shahquli and Kara Memi.
In architecture, the most outstanding achievements of this period were the public buildings designed by Sinan (1539–1588), chief of the Corps of Royal Architects. While Sinan is often remembered for his two major commissions, the mosque complexes of Süleymaniye in Istanbul (1550–57) and of the later Selimiye in Edirne (1568–74), he designed hundreds of buildings across the Ottoman empire and contributed to the dissemination of Ottoman culture. Apart from mosques and other pious foundations—including schools, hospices, and soup kitchens, supported by shops, markets, baths, and caravanserais—Süleyman also commissioned repairs and additions to major historical monuments. The tile revetment of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, as well as several additions to sites in Mecca and Medina, the two Holy Cities of Islam, date from this period.
Suzan Yalman
Department of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Based on original work by Linda Komaroff
Source: The Age of Süleyman “the Magnificent” (r. 1520–1566) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
End Excerpt from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Chapter 14 of Zechariah indicates Jerusalem will fall again to the forces of Islam. Ironically, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent built the current Islamic walls of Jerusalem on the foundation of King Herold’s walls. I have walked on top of them around the city of Jerusalem many times.
Islam will once again, for some 1260 days, reign within these ancient walls during the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period.
Zechariah 14:1,2 – Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. [2] For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Zechariah 14:1 – Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
Jerusalem sets “in the midst” of Israel, and its spoils shall be divided among the 10 conquering nations. Once again, in the prophetic style of writing, in the next verse, in the last phrase, he jumps to the end of the 1260 days, and assures Israel that God will preserve a remnant in the Negev, which will return some 1260 days after Jerusalem falls.
Zechariah 14:2 – For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the RESIDUE of the people shall NOT be CUT OFF from the city.
The word KARATH is translated “CUT OFF.” There are several words translated “cut off” in the KJV. KARATH means “TO BE CUT OFF FOREVER.” The other Hebrew words translated “cut off’ usually provided a way for the offender to be restored to fellowship with Israel, but KARATH implies BEING CUT OFF WITHOUT ANY CHANCE OF BEING ALLOWED TO RETURN. The word translated RESIDUE is the Hebrew word YETHER, which is translated as REMNANT in Micah 5:3. (See Prophecy Update Number 64)
Micah 5:3 – Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the REMNANT of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. (See Archive Prophecy Update Number 64)
In the last phrase of Zechariah 14:2, God is assuring the tribes of Israel that even if they will be driven out of Jerusalem, they will return some 1260 days later. He does this by the use of the word “NOT.” The residue (REMNANT) of the people (ISRAELIS) shall NOT be CUT OFF from the city.
When Jerusalem falls, God begins to fight for Israel, and it begins a period of 1260 days, through which he will extend his protective shield over them in the Negev wilderness.Zechariah 14:3 – Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
Suleiman was known as the Sultan of Sultans, Suleiman I (November 6, 1494 – September 5, 1566), was the tenth and longest serving Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1520 to 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the Islamic world, as the Lawgiver, deriving from his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. Among the many titles ascribed to him were “The Shadow of God on the Earth,” and “Caesar of all the lands of Rome.”
Suleiman was considered one of the preeminent rulers of 16th century Europe. Under his leadership, the Ottoman Empire became among the worlds’ foremost powers. Suleiman personally led Ottoman armies to conquer Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of Hungary, laid the Siege of Vienna, and annexed most of the Middle East and huge territories in North Africa as far west as Algeria. For a short period, Ottomans achieved naval dominance in the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and Persian Gulf.
The Ottoman Empire continued to expand for a century after his death.
It will be very interesting to see who and what comes out of this maze of confusion between Hizbullah, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. It is from this area I have always believed the Antichrist will arise. I certainly do not know the identity of the Antichrist, but I have always taught he would come out of this area. (See Whole Numbered Archive Prophecy Updates 62 to 69 on our Web Site).
Begin Excerpt from Hurriyet News
Neo-laicism by Erdoğan
Friday, September 16, 2011
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “Arab Spring” tour of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya has ended, leaving a very interesting debate in its wake.
It all started during a televised interview with renowned Egyptian journalist Mona Shazly during his stay in Cairo. There, Erdoğan touched on the sensitive issue of laicism and said that a Muslim person like himself could successfully rule a secular country like Turkey because he saw no contradiction between Islam and democracy.
Those words were more or less similar to the words he has said in the last 10 years in Turkey.
But Erdoğan took it further. He also said it was wrong to consider laicism as being anti-Islamic. He said that “our understanding” of laicism was that the state should respect everybody’s belief or non-belief (there he said “even atheism”) and remain at an equal distance to all of them.
He was taking three important steps at once.
First, he was trying to moderate the Islamist look within the Arab societies who think that after the secular dictators’ rule in Arab countries, Shariah rule in accordance with the strict dictates of the Quran is needed in their countries. That would have the effect of a kind of centrifugal force which would throw those Arab countries and their peoples further out of the international system. So he was trying to bring them toward the mainstream.
Secondly, he was trying to moderate the look, or concern among Western societies, that secular Arab dictators would not be replaced by promising democracies, but by Islamist dictators.
Third, he was actually revising his political line by trying to revise, or bring a new definition to, laicism. By underlining the relationship between the state and religion, he was making a clear distinction between that and the French revolution-style “Separation of state from the church” definition, which was strictly adopted by the Turkish Republic in its early years in the 1920s after the abolishment of the Sultanate and the Caliphate.
Actually, that separation has never found comfortable ground in Turkey, a mostly Muslim society, largely because one can not define “the mosque” as one can define “the church” since there is no clergy in traditional Islam and no religious bureaucracy.
Perhaps that was the reason why Turkey invented a religious bureaucracy, the Religious Affairs Directorate, to regulate the matter. So instead of getting the guidance from religion, the Turkish state started to give guidance to religious practice, a unique case in the Muslim world.
On the other hand, this weird system helped Turkey develop Western-style law, Western-style democracy and a Western-style economy – with all its ups and downs so far. That system, after all, brought a pious Muslim like Erdoğan to power through a free vote, allowed him to consolidate his power while pushing him toward the political center and is now throwing him before the revolting masses of Muslim countries that are asking for more freedom.
This is new not only for the region, but for political theory as well.
It is worth paying a closer look to Erdoğan’s concept of neo-laicism
End Excerpt from Hurriyet News
SECOND OF TWO PREVIOUS BLOGS
Middle East “Person of Interest” Rising in Power!
September 16th, 2011
Significant Pre-Tribulation Cry Is Now Being Heard IN Cairo
“Welcome, Salah al-Din” CRY in Egypt for a Turk Is Great!
Middle East ‘Person of Interest’ is Worthy of Observation
Consider Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan!
PARTS OF Turkey WERE Parts OF THE Assyrian Empire
Turkey WAS ONCE Occupied By Ezekiel 38:3,6 FOLKS
Southeast Turkey was once a part of ‘Greater Syria’
Turk Rulers were Listed among Kings OF THE North
Turkey HAS Experienced Great Economic Growth.
It has a powerful military with domestic Support
“[Not only did Erdogan recently win a third election campaign in Turkey, he also represents a regional power boasting great economic growth while the world faces a financial crisis. He has a powerful army, massive domestic support and the kind of influence that allows him to undertake regional moves vis-à-vis Israel, Syria, the Palestinians the Kurds and Libya.]”
I AM NOT SAYING ERDOGAN IS THE ANTICHRIST, BUT ONLY USING THE POLICE TERM SAYING “HE IS A PERSON OF INTEREST!”
I do not know the identity of the Antichrist, but I do know he will arise to the north of Israel, will come from a country once partially occupied by the ancient Assyrian Empire, from an area once occupied by the descendants of Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and all his bands, the house of Togarmah of the north quarters and all his bands, and many people with thee.
I have always taught the Antichrist would come out of Syria or Lebanon, but I have never excluded the possibility he could come out of Turkey or Northern Iraq. I still believe the most likely modern country for his appearance is Syria, but would not be shocked to see him come from Turkey. I would not be shocked because:
(1) Part of Turkey was once occupied by the Assyrian Empire
The Assyrians rose to power and prosperity around 12th century BC in Mesopotamia which today consists mainly of modern Iraq. Their Empire extended to some regions of modern Turkey and settled in different cities in Anatolia.
Micah 5:5,6 – And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. [6] And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. (See Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 64 and 65 in the whole numbered archive series from 62 to 69)
(2) Turkey was once occupied by those descendants in Ezekiel 38:3,6
Ezekiel 38:3,6 – And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: [6] Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
(3) Southeast Turkey was once part of “Greater Syria”
While for many years scholars and journalists have focused on the more obvious manifestations of political life in the Middle East, one major theme has been consistently neglected.
This is Pan-Syrian nationalism–the dream of creating a Greater Syria out of an area now governed by Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey. Though not nearly as well known as Arab or Palestinian nationalism and hardly studied in depth, Pan-Syrianism has had a profound effect on Middle Eastern politics since the end of World War I. In “Greater Syria”, the noted Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes provides the first comprehensive account of this intriguing, important, and little understood ideology.
(Oxford Press Excerpt)
(4) Turkish rulers were included among the Biblical Kings of the North
Jeremiah 25:26 – And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
(5) Turkey has Experienced great Economic Growth
(6) It has a powerful Military with Domestic Support
(7) Erdogan is being welcomed in Egypt with “Welcome, Salah al-Din”
Salah al-Din al-Ayubbi founded the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt and Syria. Known as Saladin in the West, Salah al Din al Ayubi was born in 1138 in Tikrit. Saladin, a Kurdish warrior, became the Sultan of Egypt and known as a champion of Islam. Salah al Din became a legend in the East and West for his role in clearing the Crusaders from Jerusalem. His capture of Jerusalem, and the Muslim triumph that followed, gave him a remarkable place in the pages of history. The rise of a new, unified Islamic state centered in Egypt was accomplished by the skilled leadership of Saladin.
September 16, 2011
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Begin Excerpt from YNet News
The Mideast’s new hero?
Op-ed: Turkey’s Erdogan seeks to become regional leader, show Arabs the ‘right path’
Roee Nahmias
September 15, 2011
“Welcome, Salah al-Din” – this is how tens of thousands of enthused Egyptians received Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the man who in his own eyes is emerging as the next Arab leader with every passing day.
The “Turkish Sultan,” who initiated a head-on clash with Israel, greeted the welcoming youngsters in Cairo in Arabic. The young Egyptians embraced him, but Arab leaders may soon develop a dislike for the leader who talks to the masses above their heads
Some 5,000 people have joined the Facebook page calling for a warm welcome to Erdogan. This page and the photos from the Cairo airport are precisely the kind of images he seeks to display: In a period where large parts of the Arab world are entering a vacuum or paralysis following the regional upheaval, Turkey’s PM wants to show that he is the only regional leader who travels freely and can offer his patronage.
Not only did Erdogan recently win a third election campaign in Turkey, he also represents a regional power boasting great economic growth while the world faces a financial crisis. He has a powerful army, massive domestic support and the kind of influence that allows him undertake regional moves vis-à-vis Israel, Syria, the Palestinians the Kurds and Libya.
The new Nasse
r?
Under the current state of affairs, it is no surprise that more Arab media outlets endorse the view that Erdogan seeks to enter the leadership vacuum in the Arab world and turn into a pan-Arabic and pan-Islamic figure – a sort of modern-day version of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, who sought to unite Arab states under his pan-Arabism and mostly under his leadership.
However, reality is cruel to Egypt.
Instead of Cairo leading the way, it hosts a regional, non-Arab leader (this carries great weight) who seeks to assume a leadership role and show Egypt and its sisters the “right path. In an interview with Egyptian TV, Erdogan stressed that “Turkey constitutes the model for a proper secular state.”
While the substance of Erdogan’s suggestions is important, the tone is even more significant. Turkey’s leader toured three states that recently toppled their leaders – Egypt, Tunisia and Libya – while offering many recommendations, and mostly one word of advice: Follow me, I’ll show you the way.
Erdogan’s tips
Speaking at a special Arab League convention, Erdogan also took the liberty to offer his tips to Arab states. “Recognizing the Palestinian state is a right, not a duty,” he reprimanded them. He also resorted to his cus
tomary habit, slamming Israel as the masses cheer.
Indeed, Turkey’s leader portrays himself as the only one who can pose a significant threat to Israel and put the “West’s spoiled child” in its place.
Mideastern leaders are likely unhappy to hear Erdogan’s zealous declarations. However, in the climate created in the region, many people buy into the Turkish PM’s arrogant statements. Over time, Arab leaders may not be willing to play into the hands of the “Muslim lecturer” who wishes to bring them under his leadership.
Yet until that time, Erdogan shall continue to take pleasure in the flattering headlines. And what will come next? This depends on the crises to follow in the region. In any case, the Turkish prime minister will be lying in wait in order to score more political and leadership points.
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